Category Archives: Good Earth

Enjoy Life Chocolate — Part 2 of 2: Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mega Chunks

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I consider myself to be very lucky in that I’m not allergic or intolerant to soy. Many people are, though, so chocolate is a problem. Go look on almost any package of chocolate you have nearby, and you’ll see the ingredient “soy lecithin.” Yes, even that small trace amount can negatively affect people who can’t tolerate soy.

That’s what I consider to be the GREAT news about Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mega Chunks.* They’re soy-free! (I take for granted that they’re gluten-free and dairy-free, or else I wouldn’t be eating them. Anything else is gravy for me.)

I just had to bake them into chocolate chip cookies.

 

The cookies turned out really well, and I really like the mega chocolate chunks. They’re about twice as big as a regular chocolate chip.

I asked my dad (who, to my knowledge, doesn’t have any food issues) if he could taste a difference between these and the popular brand of semi-sweet chocolate chips he keeps in the freezer. He said he couldn’t, which I took to be a good thing.

Between my inability to eat gluten, dairy and corn, that cuts out the vast majority of processed and pre-packaged goods. When I see a product that only has three ingredients (Evaporated Cane Juice, Natural Chocolate Liquor (Non-Alcoholic), Non-Dairy Cocoa Butter), I’m thrilled. In my book, the fewer ingredients, the better.

The cookies (and just the chunks themselves!) disappeared so quickly that I’ve already made a second batch of cookies with them (and had to supplement with regular chocolate chips)! They’re delicious…in or out of cookies.

If you’re local to Utah County, you can find them at Good Earth. You can also find them at Enjoy Life Foods Where To Buy.

 

* In the interest of full disclosure, Enjoy Life contacted me and asked me to review these two products. They are not paying me, and I’m writing what I actually think.

 

Product Review: So Delicious Cultured Coconut Milk

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I have discovered a product that I really like:

So Delicious Cultured Coconut Milk. I have missed yogurt since going dairy-free, which is funny, because I didn’t love it when I could eat it.

My stomach’s delicate enough, though, that I’ve been looking for a way to get more probiotics into my system to help it out as much as I can. (I do take Align, but wanted even more.)

I tried Silk soy yogurt, but it has a lot more sweetener than I would like. Individual yogurts are pretty expensive and take up a fair amount of room in the fridge, so I was looking for something…else, even if I didn’t know exactly what it was.

I tried the strawberry first, since I don’t love coconut milk. It’s very good! I’ve purchased several of them, and it really does help keep things moving. After getting strawberry a few times, I tried vanilla on a whim. Also very good, and unlike its strawberry counterpart, it isn’t too sweet for my husband. So today I got two — strawberry for me, vanilla for my husband. They have less sugar per serving than other brands and types of yogurt, and they don’t take up too much space in the fridge.

I buy them here in Utah at Good Earth Natural Foods, and they cost $4.65. For me, they’re completely worth it.

 

Finding (some) gluten-free, dairy-free ingredients in the Northern Utah area

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Sometimes finding ingredients can be tricky — especially the ingredients in the Babycakes cookbook.

Let’s take the ingredients from the chocolate frosting/chocolate sauce recipe:

Unsweetened soy milk
Dry soy milk powder
Unsweetened cocoa powder
Coconut flour
Agave nectar
Pure vanilla extract
Coconut oil
Fresh lemon juice

I tend to organize my lists by proximity: closest to furthest. Closest tends to be the easiest to get, and so on.

(Almost) any grocery store:
Unsweetened soy milk – I like Silk brand. They make an unsweetened version — different than vanilla!
Unsweetened cocoa powder – Unless you’re wanting a more expensive brand)
Pure vanilla extract
Fresh lemons, for squeezing.

Smith’s:
Coconut oil. This may surprise you, but it’s true. I don’t buy coconut oil anywhere else, really. It may not be the best of the best, or whatever, but it’s actually a reasonable price! It looks like this:

This is in the ballpark of 6-8 dollars for 31.5 oz. Coconut oil that I see everywhere else (Whole Foods, Good Earth, Sunflower Market) is twice as expensive for half as much. I haven’t tried the more expensive stuff, but this suits my needs just fine! It’s next to the Crisco. Honestly, I’ve only seen it at Smith’s, or maybe the Harmon’s in Draper. Not sure why other stores haven’t picked it up yet. 
Coconut oil is cool stuff. It’s great. When it’s cold, it’s hard as a rock. When it’s hot, it’s completely liquid. In our first apartment that didn’t have central air, I remember taking it out of the cupboard, opening the jar, and finding it completely liquefied. So…when you initially make a sauce or frosting with it, it will be runny. It has to be in the fridge for a while to set up. Just keep that in mind.
Costco:
Pure vanilla extract  - It’s better for me to buy this in “bulk,” because I use plenty of it. It’s marked gluten-free on the bottle, and I don’t see any corn ingredients listed. At any rate, it doesn’t seem to bother me.
Agave nectar – Each Costco is a little different from every other one, but I can consistently find agave nectar at Costcos in Utah. It’s Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave. It’s two bottles together, 23.5 oz each. I love the flavor of it. It’s my favorite brand thus far. I’ll even mix it with oatmeal on occasion. I like it a lot.
Whole Foods/Good Earth/Sunflower Market:
Coconut flour & Dry soy milk powder – these are tougher to find, and they can be quite expensive. It’s worth comparing prices between these three stores, because sometimes they’re 2-3 dollars different, and who you think would have the lowest prices isn’t always intuitive. Brand also plays a big part in that. The bag I bought was huge. I still have most of it, because I usually only need a tablespoon or so. I don’t bake or cook much with coconut flour at this point. Some distributors are cluing in to this and are selling it in smaller amounts. I want to say that I got my bag for $20ish dollars or so. I don’t remember, and I don’t remember how big the bag was. I bought it shortly after I was diagnosed with Celiac, and it hasn’t gone rancid yet.
Dry soy milk powder is around $16 for a canister that’s probably around 20 oz. Again, it can be found at any of these stores, for different prices. It lasted me for two years, too, because I only use it for these recipes. :) I just ran out, though, and need to get some more before I can make more delicious trifle.
Hope this helps! Good hunting.

Happy Celiac Anniversary!

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It was right around now two years ago that I was sitting in my doctor’s office and told that I have Celiac Disease. (It also happens to be Celiac Awareness Month. Cool, huh?) I’m lucky that my doctor also has Celiac. It means he knows how this all works, and isn’t going to prescribe me something glutenous. That day, he ran and got his laptop and gave me a PowerPoint presentation about Celiac Disease — the same one he gives to other medical professionals. He told me that I had to go gluten-free — that day — or I would continue to destroy the villi in my intestines, I would keep my body from absorbing nutrients, and I would probably get lymphoma. Sounds fun, right? The one regret that I have about that appointment is that I talked my doctor out of ordering me an endoscopy. If I had known then how not-a-big-deal endoscopies are, I would have gone for it.**

I can’t really believe that it’s been two years. Two years! Two years ago, I only knew one person (besides my doctor) who had Celiac Disease. She works down the hall from me, and was a HUGE help getting me going in the right direction. She gave me a little pocket-size ingredients book from (I think?) the Canadian Celiac Association that details which bizarre ingredients have gluten in them and which don’t. Two years later, I know that book is in my house somewhere, but I don’t know where right now. I almost never need it anymore.

Even still, I felt lonely. I felt like no-one had this weird disease. I felt ostracized. Going grocery shopping was hard, and took forEVER, since I wasn’t used to checking every. freaking. label. I almost cried in the middle of Whole Foods the first time I went. I bought Shauna James Ahern’s Gluten-Free Girl book, and read her website until my eyes blurred over. Of anything, that probably helped me the most to not feel quite so alone.

My husband, The Franchise, immediately stepped up to the plate and went (mostly) gluten-free with me. This has meant more to me than anything else. He has never questioned that it’s real. He has never complained about the additional cost of eating gluten-free, or about the costs of all my medical tests and procedures and appointments. He’s willing to try everything I make at least once, and sometimes he even likes my gluten-free version better! (Sometimes, though, like with hummus, he thinks it’s gross and can’t understand why anyone else likes it. :) That’s okay.) When he does eat gluten, he makes sure it’s very well contained and doesn’t contaminate my stuff. When those days pop up where I just feel like food controls my life and that I’m never going to feel better, he’s there to give me a hug, hold me, tell me that he loves me and that it will be okay. I’m very lucky to have married him.

My mom, who’s a nurse, was with me and The Franchise at my diagnosis. She immediately sprang into action and had the rest of my family tested for Celiac, since it’s hereditary. In July of that year, my sister was diagnosed after inconclusive bloodwork and a positive biopsy. My parents have gluten sensitivity, but everyone else is clear. My mom dove into finding out everything she could about gluten-free cooking and baking. She’s the one who found Life Tastes Good Again, and at her recommendation, I bought it a few months later.

Life Tastes Good Again taught me that I can still make “the standard” bready things, gluten-free, and have them taste good. I can’t tell you what that did for my ability to feel “normal.”

I discovered the Udi’s line of products, which have also been a lifesaver. Bread for sandwiches that tastes like…bread? Check. Bagels that are lovely when toasted and smothered with cream cheese (Tofutti brand for me)? Check. Blueberry muffins to die for that are also dairy and soy free? Check. I also hear their pizza crust is great, but haven’t tried it.

In the past two years, I have learned:

* How to read labels like lightening (and how to recognize gluten in its various hidings)
* Fresh foods are delicious!
* It’s a lot easier to avoid gluten if I’m eating fresh, whole foods instead of processed ones.
* I still have bad days when I feel like I’m never going to feel better, but that’s ok.
* So many people have Celiac or gluten intolerance. You might be one of them. If your stomach is always upset, that is not normal. E-mail me at cinderellaspear(at)gmail(dot)com. I can help.
* I love to cook! Seriously…I do. I love playing with flavors and textures and colors, and I’m almost to the point where I can make it look pretty, too.
* I don’t love to bake yet, but I’ll get there…someday.
* Life Tastes Good Again bread recipe + KitchenAid mixer = easiest bread ever, with none of my allergens.
* In addition to the Celiac, I have been diagnosed with gastroparesis, and allergies to beef, chicken, eggs, milk, bananas, carrots, and corn.
* When I don’t eat gluten or allergies and I do my best to eat the right foods in the right amounts for gastroparesis, I feel better.
* Ginger tea is my friend.
* Tofutti brand is my friend.
* I love food!
* People generally want to understand, and just one conversation can raise awareness, which is great. I have people all the time tell me that they saw some gluten-free product somewhere and thought of me. :) It makes me happy.
* I still do feel self-conscious about this, but it’s getting better. Most of the time. I think.
* I have the most supportive family in the world. The summer that I was diagnosed, we went up to our family farm in Idaho, and my “aunt” Tammy bought me a HUGE bag of certified gluten-free oats. That was so amazing, because I love oatmeal. Love it. Always have. Always will. Those bags? Not cheap. She did that for me. My grandpa Armando let us come stay with him last year and was brave enough to let me cook for him. So sweet. So sweet of him to let us stay with him. My in-laws are very supportive — especially my mother-in-law. They’re also brave enough to let me cook for them on occasion, and are always sending me articles and things they find about Celiac.
* There is a wonderful community of people with food issues that I would never have had the chance to interact with had these issues not come up. Thank you for your time and efforts and blogs. We are not alone in this, and it’s wonderful to know you. I hope I can meet you in person.
* Whole Foods? Awesome. I could spend sooooo much money there. It’s good for practicing self-restraint as well as all the awesomeness.
* Good Earth? Also awesome. I get bulk flours and other various & sundry items there.

All in all, I feel very blessed. I’m grateful for the opportunity to find a passion for life and for cooking and food that I didn’t know was there. I’m blessed by the people in my life who support me and who are an example to me. I’m grateful for God, who knows who and what I need, even when I don’t, and who leads me to them.

Here’s to a good and interesting two years, and here’s to many more!

**A year after that appointment when I still wasn’t feeling better, my gastroenterologist ordered an endoscopy without me going back to gluten first, and “didn’t see any villi damage,” so according to him, I have latent Celiac. Latent Celiac refers to having a positive blood test but a negative biopsy. Um…hello? I was gluten-free for a year. That’s usually enough time for the gut to heal. So, whatever. I’m not going back to gluten because that would be miserable, and I’m not going to cheat and then have my “latent” Celiac “turn on” and have to get an endoscopy every year to make sure I’m not doing damage. I’ll just keep going on my merry little gluten-free way.

Lavender Blueberry Dagoba chocolate

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I just wanted to write about this chocolate, and tell you how delicious it is. VERY delicious. I’d seen it around a few times, and thought, “Lavender? Plus blueberry? In dark chocolate?? Really??” Really. I decided to give it a try, and I can’t wait to go back for more. It’s such a complex flavor. First you taste a hint of lavender, then the blueberry kicks in, and then it all melts together in the dark chocolate. The process repeats itself with the aftertaste. You don’t eat this quickly. You eat a small piece at a time, and you wait for the next piece until you can’t taste the remnants anymore. You savor it.

Dagoba, thank you for making delicious, organic chocolate with only the purest of ingredients. I look forward to tasting the rest of your delicious, complex flavors.

(I got it at Good Earth here in Utah, but it’s available at Whole Foods, too.)

Gluten-free products I like, part I

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I just had a lovely conversation with my lovely aunt who thinks she’ll be diagnosed with Celiac sometime this week. We were talking about gluten-free products, and I realized that there are lots of products that I like that I haven’t written down. (Amusingly, I don’t remember what products those were, dear Aunt, so remind me…) So, in her honor, I’m starting a series of product reviews. This is part I. If there are any products you’d like me to specifically review, let me know.

Kettle potato chips. Crunchy goodness. Lots of flavors, all gluten-free.

These can be bought pretty much anywhere now, which is awesome.

Tinkyada pasta. Doesn’t go mushy…nearly so easily.

Of the gluten-free pastas, I like Tinkyada the best. Gluten-free pastas have a tendency to go mushy if you do not cook them exactly to the directions specified. While it’s still good to keep tabs on the boiling time, it’s not nearly so critical. It’s also good for those with allergies, because brown rice is the primary ingredient. It’s pretty good, too. Tastes like regular pasta. I have for sure gotten this at Whole Foods and Good Earth, but I’m not sure if I’ve gotten it at Smith’s. Pasta isn’t one of things I miss, but I use this brand when I make the occasional pasta dish.

Namaste Muffin Mix….YUM.

If there’s one product that that I (and The Franchise) really adore, it’s the Namaste brand muffin mix. I get this at Good Earth, but Whole Foods sells it, too. We put Craisins in it, and it is delicious. My gluten-eating husband loves these just as much as (if not more than) I do. They’re allergen-free (unless you put things in yourself), and incredibly delicious. They’re also really easy. Throw the ingredients in the mixer, mix in whatever else you like, put them in the oven, and voila! Golden deliciousness, easy to take with you. Only problem? Kinda pricey.  (On that note, make sure to do your own price comparisons when buying products like this. Health food stores are not always as good about checking their competitors’ prices as regular grocery stores are, and sometimes prices can vary by a couple of dollars.)

End of part I. Anything you want to know about?

Housewarming Recipes – Fig Cookies, Chocolate Sauce

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The Franchise and I had a housewarming party today after having lived in our house for just over a month. It was lovely! We had veggies, dip, hummus, chili, vegan and non-vegan toppings for the chili, cornbread (though not for me), fig cookies, fruit with chocolate sauce, and lemonade. It’s nice having friends. By popular request, here are the recipes for the chocolate sauce and the fig cookies.

* For reference, the parentheses are hers; italics are mine.

Fig Cookies, from Gluten Free Girl, page 205
Fig Spread ( to be made at least 24 hours in advance of the cookies)
   1/2 pound of dried figs I usually get these at Good Earth.
   1/2 cup pomegranate juice
   1/4 cup port – I use grape juice
   1/4 cup Meyer lemon juice (or 1/4 cup lemon juice with 1 tablespoon sugar)

Chop up the figs, and pour all the stuff on top. When you’re ready to make the cookies, keep a few tablespoons of the juice to add to the saturated figs, and dump the rest. Throw the figs and little bit of juice into a blender or food processor until it’s the same consistency.

Fig Cookie Dough
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fresh ground nutmeg — I just use the bottled kind for now.
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened — No butter for me, so I use Nucoa brand dairy-free margarine
1/2 cup organic cane sugar — This is important because the grainy texture helps the cookie cohere.
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons molasses

* Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. You don’t need to do this until after you refrigerate the dough.


* Mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium-size bowl. Set aside.

* Put the softened margarine into a mixer. Add the brown sugar and organic cane sugar to the butter and cream together.

* Add the egg, vanilla, and molasses. Mix until just blended. Add the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly blended.

* Refrigerate the dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Be careful, though — if you leave it in too long (like overnight, or more than a couple of hours), it will be too hard to roll out. 


* After you have chilled the dough, roll out half the dough. I just roll it out between two sheets of parchment (not wax) paper and forget trying to roll it out with flour (like the original recipe suggests) entirely. No matter what, it always sticks to my rolling pin. I roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper. Peel off the top layer. Pick up the bottom layer with the dough and stick it straight on the baking sheet.) Slather the fig spread over the surface of the dough, stopping about one inch from the edges. Roll out the rest of the dough and lay it over the fig spread. Crimp the edges to seal in the fig spread. (I now take the layer I peeled off, and throw the rest of the dough on it. I use another parchment sheet on top to roll this part out. Peel off the top layer of paper again, and I turn the dough on top of the fig spread. The doughs will not line up, but this is the least infuriating way for me to do this. I tear off edges of the top layer of dough as needed to move them to other parts that need it, and then crimp things off the best I can.)

* Bake for 15 minutes. Take the cookies out of the oven when they are firm to the touch and just starting to brown. I usually end up having mine be around 17 or 18 minutes when they’re done. 

Chocolate Frosting/Chocolate Sauce from Babycakes, page 93

1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk (I use Silk brand unsweetened soy milk. Also good with vanilla soy milk)
1/2 cup dry soy milk powder
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon coconut flour
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Combine the ingredients in a blender or food processor — NOT a mixer. (I did that once, and it was terrible.) I’ve found that the truest frosting consistency is found through a blender. Blend until the texture is consistent. Refrigerate at least six hours before serving. It will stay good for about a month in the fridge.


*******

If you live in Northern Utah, the place I’ve gotten the flours has been Good Earth. I get the brown rice and sorghum flours through the Bob’s Red Mill brand, though, so it’s relatively easy to get those at a regular grocery store like Smith’s or Harmon’s. Keep an eye out for sorghum; I’ve had a tough time tracking it down lately. Good Earth sells tapioca starch (and other important gf flours like rice flour) in bulk. Soy milk powder comes in a canister, coconut flour in a very big bag (though I think I’ve seen smaller ones lately). I usually get agave nectar at Costco (it’s the least expensive there, I’ve found) and I get coconut oil at Smith’s. Yes, Smith’s. It’s by the Crisco. It may be a lower quality oil, but it works wonderfully and is really, really inexpensive compared with Good Earth or Whole Foods. Don’t buy it at those stores unless you cannot find it at any Smith’s stores.


A word about coconut oil: It’s very sensitive to temperature. Get it warm enough, and it can be completely liquid. Stick it in the fridge for a couple of hours, and it will be rock hard. If it’s not malleable enough for you when you’re trying to scoop it out of its container, just slip it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, and you’ll be good. Because of this, you have to put the frosting in the fridge so the coconut oil will cohere and set the frosting up. Normal frostings get thicker the longer they’re beaten, but frostings with coconut oil will get runnier the longer you beat them. Don’t suffer the way I did, and take my word for it. :)